U18s topple Town

Our Under-18s overcame a stubborn Ipswich Town side to make it three-successive wins in the Premier Academy League on Saturday.

Our Under-18s overcame a stubborn Ipswich Town side to make it three-successive wins in the Premier Academy League on Saturday.

Goalless at half-time, the lads remained patient and finally broke the deadlock on the hour when emergency striker Nathan Byrne (pictured) converted from Paul McBride's cross.

Jessie Waller-Lassen clinched the 2-0 victory when he was picked out by Tom Carroll and finished with 10 minutes remaining.

"It was an interesting game and a good test for the lads," reported coach Alex Inglethorpe.

"Ipswich were very difficult to break down and that left us with two problems. The first was how we'd manage the counter-attack because it was likely that would happen and they looked like they could cause us problems if we left ourselves too open.

"The second was how to break them down because they were strong through the middle of the pitch.

"It took time but in the end we solved the problem and that was very pleasing.

"Kudus Oyenuga had a one-on-one chance in the first half and we had other opportunities, nothing too clear-cut and they hit the woodwork with a counter-attack. It was even in terms of chances even though we'd dominated possession.

"The thinking at half-time was that we needed to create more two-versus-one opportunities wide and our first goal on the hour came when Sam Cox, playing at left back, got forward and fed in Paul McBride and Nathan Byrne finished really well from six yards.

"We looked in control and on 80 minutes we doubled the lead when Paul Jose Mpoku took a quick throw to Tom Carroll and he crossed for Jessie Waller-Lassen to finish.

"We'd scored 13 goals in the two games before this so we always back ourselves to score but Ipswich provided us with a problem to overcome.

"We did that without top-scorer Harry Kane, who is with England Under-17s in the Algarve and Kudus, who has been injured, was only able to play 45 minutes.

"That meant we were without a recognised striker so Nathan Byrne went up from right-back and did a great job for us."